the environots
by maravelous
Summary: AU; Lips, teeth, tip of the tongue. We've each got a mouth, and there's always more to talk about. — Team Gai ; For Opal
1. 1aughter is good for the body

Dedicated to: OpalescentStorm  
Happy Birthday sweetheart ❤  
Don't go clubbing without me. (;

**the environots**;

Tenten rarely got angry. She was frequently childish, sure, and she whined quite often for reasons even she admitted were stupid, but she almost never lost her temper, especially not when it concerned Neji.

Neji, well, he could be sexist a lot, and being a feminist Tenten regretting picking him as a study partner every time he segregated anything that had breasts. He was frustratingly vague, so when giving her short meaningless answers Tenten would have to yell her question at him so he'd understand exactly what she wanted to know.

But he was a trustworthy adult, and quite smart, so she looked up to him in a way.

This, however, was unacceptable.

"Neji," she hissed into her cell phone. She was curled under the blankets in her dorm room, trying not to wake her roommate with the bright light of her cell phone, keeping her voice down. "Do you know what time it is?"

Neji's voice crackled through the cell phone louder than necessary._ "Actually, I'm not quite sure…"_

Tenten groaned under her breath. "Neji, it's three in the morning," she snapped as quietly as she could. "What are you doing, getting high?"

"_Don't be ridiculous."_ Tenten had to admit he had a point; the possibilities of Neji even getting a whiff of drugs were likewise to that of a flying squirrel learning how to breathe underwater.

She shook her head, frowning and checking her cell phone's clock once again just to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. Nope, the big old 3:08 AM gleamed back at her in glowing neon numbers. Tenten scowled and held the phone to her ear once more. "Well if you're not high," Tenten growled, "what is your excuse for calling me while I'm trying to sleep?"

"_It's all Lee's fault."_

Tenten glowered. Of course. That was Neji's answer to everything lately; "It was all Lee's fault." He forgot his homework, it was Lee's fault. He stubbed his toe, it was Lee's fault. He choked on a peanut, it was Lee's fault.

And what made it worse, was that Tenten legitimately believed him.

As if on cue, Lee's anxious voice could be heard in the background. Tenten could see him now, lurking over Neji's shoulder, pressing his ear to the cellphone trying to listen in on the conversation, and now he desperately wanted a turn. She couldn't understand exactly what he was saying, he was talking too fast and the phone was hissing indignantly, but she knew it was him.

"_Get off me and let me talk!"_ Neji yelled, and Tenten winced at the volume it came out of the phone with. Closing her palm over the receiver and shutting out the sounds of Neji and Lee struggling, she whipped back the blankets. Temari was still sleeping on the other side of the room. Tenten let out a sigh of relief and slipped out of her bed to exit the room, closing the door softly behind her.

"Okay," Tenten said impatiently into the phone as soon as she got into the suit outside. "I'm going to hang up if you two don't tell me right now what's going on, because if I wake my roommate up she's going to _murder _me."

"_No!"_ Tenten rolled her eyes at Lee's cry of anguish. One more short spurt of struggling noises, and Lee had the phone, wailing into it, _"Tenten, we need you!"_

"Okay, okay, calm down, I'm not hanging up," Tenten said patronizingly. "Just tell me what's going on!"

Lee gave a long sigh. "Okay…Okay…So, me and Neji were supposed to go to Indiana for our Environmental Studies class, you remember?"

Tenten did remember. The small town in Indiana Neji and Lee were headed for was just two hours away from where Maple University's campus was in southern Michigan. "Weren't you guys supposed to leave tonight?"

"_Yeah, we did," Lee insisted, "But we — ouch! Fine,__** I **__got us lost."_

Tenten raised an eyebrow. "…_You _were driving?"

"_Well, I insisted. Neji looked very tired, so I offered to drive for him, and, well…"_

"Lee, you're dyslexic, and you don't have a sense of direction!"

"_Neji said I could!"_

"He shouldn't have! You can't even tell left from right! I bet he didn't even give you a map or directions at all, I bet you were heckling him so much he just gave in at last and took a nap!"

"_Wow, how did you know?"_

Tenten resisted the urge to punch something. "Well, where are you now?"

_"Um, I think we're in Kentucky…?"_

Tenten froze. She'd been pacing the suit outside her room, and now she lightly lay a hand against the wall to steady herself. "…Kentucky…?"

"_Yeah, Kentucky. There are cows, and three hours ago it was dark out even though it shouldn't have been..."_

Tenten dragged a hand down her face. "You have got to be kidding me," she whispered darkly.

"_I don't see this as very funny, Tenten."_

"Neither do I, sport," she grumbled. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, still messed up from sleeping. "So let me get this straight," she said as calmly as she could. "You guys were trying to drive to Indiana, which is just two hours away, and ended up in Kentucky?"

"_Yes."_

"…" Tenten pressed her forehead against the wall. "Can you please give the phone to Neji?" she pleaded softly.

She heard the hiss of the air as the phone was handed over, and Neji spoke ever-so-modestly, _"Yes?"_

"Neji, are you guys seriously in Kentucky?"

"_Well, there are a frequent amount of cows, and judging by the time changes Kentucky would be a little darker three hours ago."_

She briefly wondered why he made so much more sense than Lee when he was basically saying the same thing. "So, where in Kentucky do you predict you are?" she goaded.

Neji paused. _"I'm…not sure…"_

"What are you doing right now?" Tenten asked, swallowing her impatience.

"_Standing outside of the car in the middle of nowhere in Kentucky trying to find out where we are and talking to you."_

"…Fantastic…" Tenten sat down on the small uncomfortable chair in the corner. "Remind me why you're my friends."

"_Because last year in Physics I called you an astounding mathematician with attention defecate disorder, and in British Literature Lee called you a psycho-maniac with a pretty face."_

"…I can never tell if you're being serious or if you're not..."

"_I am."_

**coming soon**;

**(**"Lee, you've got it all wrong."  
"What do you mean, Neji?"  
"It's not Spanish, it's French."  
"French? For what?"  
"...Well, I suppose it…it…"  
"If you don't know what it means, how do you know its French?"**)**

**(**It was normal for friends to lie to each other.  
And somewhere subliminally, Tenten knew that.  
She didn't expect it from them, though. Never.**)**

**(**_"What are you guys—?"_  
"—Squirrel!"  
"…_That's nice, Neji…"_**)**

**(**They each wanted something to call _theirs_.**)**

**you can't wait.**


	2. 2 many stars in the sky

**the environots**;

Neji really couldn't understand what the big deal was. Tenten sometimes made a fuss out of things that could easily be found a way out of. They weren't in an _enormous_ rush for time, and the only disadvantage of getting to their destination a day late was that they would have less time to sleep and unpack, which would do little to affect their performance.

After a while he decided to voice his opinion, something he tried not to do around Tenten because she, being a girl, would always declare his opinion as a self-thought fact which was actually wrong.

Taking the risk, he cleared his throat and said: "Tenten, I think maybe you should calm down and help us get out of this situation."

He heard her exhale sharply, but fortunately she seemed a bit too tired to snap at him tonight. _"Yeah, yeah, okay…Let me think…" _Neji listened to her sigh. _"Is there anything around you that may indicate where the hell you are?"_

Neji glanced around. His silver Volvo was parked at the side of an endless stretch of highway. He stood next to it while Lee sat on the hood mumbling to himself confusedly. On either side of them were two long corn fields. The stars twinkled above, singing for the lost tune of the moon which was hidden behind thick clouds. The dusty road ahead of them was illuminated by Neji's car's headlights.

"…So far, nothing…" he said calmly. "It is scenic, though."

"_Oh, come on!"_

Neji sighed and held the phone slightly away from his ear as he listened to Tenten curse furiously. As he shifted his gaze to the road exasperatedly, he suddenly caught sight of something that he hadn't acknowledged before.

"Wait…There's a street sign right next to us."

Lee's head popped up at that, and Tenten stopped swearing. _"It's been there the whole time?" _she asked dangerously.

"I never noticed it before—"

"—_For goodness sake, Neji, just read it!"_

Neji didn't even have to move. Instead, Lee jumped to his feet and scurried over to the sign. Neji watched as Lee skidded to a halt at the sign post and grabbed it so he wouldn't fall into the dust. "Lee's doing it for me."

"_Well, he's already a step ahead of you today, isn't he?" _Tenten grumbled dryly over the phone.

Neji rolled his eyes. Women really could be touchy in the morning.

Lee, staring at the sign, suddenly yelled over to Neji, "Écureuil."

"Gesundheit," Neji responded.

"_Pardon?"_

"I believe Lee's trying out that spontaneous haiku thing again."

"_Again? What gibberish is it this time?"_

Lee pouted, hearing Neji's insult as he meandered over to the car again. "I was reading the sign," he defended himself.

"Well what does that mean?" Neji asked.

Lee tilted his head to the side. "I think it's Spanish for 'No Trespassing'…"

"You idiot," Neji scoffed. "Here, I'm going to have a look."

"_What's going on?" _Tenten asked over the phone as Lee dragged Neji over to the sign personally.

"Lee thinks he found a sign that says 'No Trespassing'," Neji muttered, stopping totteringly near the sign and shoving Lee off of his arm. He acknowledged the sign as Tenten said hesitantly over the phone, _"That...sucks..."_

Neji read the message, and recognition sprung into his head. He frowned. "Lee, you've got it all wrong."

"What?" Lee stopped spinning around the sign post and stared at Neji.

"It's not Spanish, it's French," Neji explained.

"French? For what?"

"…Well, I believe it means…it means…"

"If you don't know what it means, how do you know its French?"

Neji scratched his head, drumming his fingers on his phone. "Well it's definitely not Spanish, and I know a little French…"

"Then what does it mean?" Lee prodded.

"I don't know. I've _seen _that word before, I just can't remember."

"Are you _sure_ you've seen it before?"

Tenten's voice piped up over the cell phone:_ "Does the French word really matter?"_

"Shut up, we're trying to concentrate," Neji retorted, to her furious humph. He turned back to the sign and desperately searched his memory. "Uh...I think it's an animal...Dog? No. Maybe it's a cat..."

"That does not look like a foreign word for cat..." Lee contemplated.

"You're right, it's smaller than a cat..."

"_What the hell are you two going on about?"_ Tenten demanded.

"Cat...Chipmunk..." Neji listed. "Beaver…Woodchuck…Squirrel..." Neji paused. "Wait..."

Lee's eyes widened. "Is that it?"

"I...I think that's it…" Neji said elatedly, thinking it over. He felt like he'd finally finished a ten page long essay.

Lee recognized the triumph in Neji's eyes and beamed. "That's it!"

"Squirrel!" Neji exclaimed, loving the way the word lilted off of his tongue now so certainly.

"_What are you two—?"_

"— Squirrel!" Neji told the phone excitedly.

Tenten paused. _"...That's nice, Neji..."_

**.**

**.**

**.**

Lee knew he got bored too easily, and too often for his own good. Neji and Tenten _always _got on his case for trying to have a little fun and make things more interesting, which always ended up in what they called "annoying", so he frequently found himself in awful situations, torn between sitting in silence, with nothing to do and frustration building up inside of him, or getting yelled at by his friends.

Most of the time he just sat and sighed, until even his sighing got on someone's nerves, but at least he had something to talk about.

Heaving a large exhale now, he waited for Neji to snap, which, as usual, didn't take long. "Lee…" Neji said dangerously eyeing him from his spot next to him on the hood of his car.

"Why is Tenten taking so long?" Lee asked desperately, leaning back and yawning.

"Neither Google Maps nor MapQuest is simple, especially when not even certain if we're in Kentucky or not."

"But we have a street sign, and we know it says Squirrel!"

"Yeah, well, we didn't really need to _know _what it meant, as it was the name of the street we're on, and be it in French or not, the English translation is not going to help us."

"But why is Tenten—"

"—Lee, for goodness sake." Neji stared up at the sky, exhausted. "I wish I hadn't let you drive," he muttered to the moon, which beamed down at them from above. The autumn wind whistled past them, picking up dust from the road and swirling it through the air in pirouettes. In Neji's hand sat his cell phone, awaiting Tenten's call so she could tell them where they were and how to get to Missouri, or at least the nearest gas station.

"You said you wanted to see if my dyslexia was getting any better," Lee said at last quietly. "You said it would be an interesting thing to say to the interviewer, that I was dyslexic but I could function so well."

Neji stared at the clouds and thinned his lips. "I didn't expect myself to fall asleep…" he responded shortly. "If I hadn't, maybe you really would have done well…"

"You never gave me directions either."

"I know."

"You didn't give me a map."

"Yeah."

"So technically it's your fault—"

"—I _get it_, Lee!" Neji raised his voice loudly, and Lee shrunk back. He pushed the shiver down his throat; he didn't want Neji to know he was still intimidated by him. Neji didn't act scary on purpose, and Lee knew that. Neji just wasn't very good at reacting to things…

Lee glanced at Neji. He was obviously trying to keep his temper down, but failing slowly; a bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face. Lee frowned. "Neji…" he said carefully. Neji blinked. "It's not really your—"

"—No, it is, I'm sorry," Neji grumbled, lowering his head and glaring at his knees. "I should have been watching you, it's obvious you panicked and got confused."

"…Yeah…"

"Well, I'm sorry." The silence of the nature pressed against them gently for a few seconds, before Neji looked up at Lee. Their eyes met, and he said hesitantly, "It's hard isn't it…?" Lee cocked his head to the side, and Neji gestured at him. "Being dyslexic."

Lee contemplated this and nodded slowly. "Yes…" he said cautiously. "But I know some day I'm going to make something of myself." His lips curled upwards, and he now turned his own head to the stars. They twinkled back at him, as if with him alone their shared an inside joke. He grinned a bit. "I'm going to make my name," he promised softly. "And you can watch me, Neji. I swear, it'll happen."

"I believe you," Neji said from his side. Lee looked at him to catch the small smile of his own flitting across his face. Neji shrugged a bit. "You've said it about a thousand times anyways."

Lee chuckled cheerfully, crossing his legs on the hood of the car and sighing contentedly. "Hmm…Something's been on my mind, Neji…" he said conversationally.

"What?"

"…We're going to have to tell her someday…" Lee put a finger to his lips. Thoughts flashed through his head, and guilt tugged at his chest. "Eventually."

He looked over at Neji, who nodded thoughtfully. "I know," he agreed solemnly. "We can't keep it from Tenten forever."

Lee grimaced. "I'm scared of what she'll do. Do you think she'll ever want to talk to us again?"

"She's an adult, Lee, however childish," Neji scoffed. "She's not going to ignore us…" Neji frowned. "Of course, I doubt she'll be very happy with our decision. She hates being left behind…"

"So when _are _we going to tell her?"

"Someday." Neji fingered his jeans, keeping at bay the thoughts that Lee allowed to roam his head. "Eventually."

"Someday eventually…" Lee repeated, trying to see if saying it would make him feel better. It didn't.

Minutes began to tick by as the two did not exchange a word. Lee threaded his fingers together and watched them while chewing his lip anxiously. Drats. He was getting bored again.

He cleared his throat and leaned against the windshield, letting his back relax and staring up at the sky. The stars sang among themselves, and he found himself thinking wildly as he gazed at them. Images and places and things flashed through his head. He dug through them, searching for what he'd been meaning to bring up at a time like this for a while now.

Finally he blurted out, "It's hard, isn't it?"

Neji looked down at him, and Lee met his eyes again, saying bluntly, "Being perfect."

Neji stared at Lee for a few seconds. His eyes were wide, surprise floating inside of his gaze. His lips parted slowly, and he nodded numbly down at him.

Lee smiled at that, and allowed himself to turn back to the musical night sky. He felt Neji slowly and uncertainly lie down on his back as well, to stare at the stars and see something stoic, and blank, and different than what Lee was seeing, and he knew it as well.

But Lee was happy for Neji all the same. He could remember a time when the two friends used to lie on their backs and watch the stars, just like this. When life was a lot less complicated. Dreaming of what they would make of themselves, someday eventually.

**coming soon**;

**(**It was normal for friends to lie to each other.  
And somewhere subliminally, Tenten knew that.  
She didn't expect it from them, though. Never.**)**

**(**"You know what would be funny, Lee? Your head on a stake."  
"…_I don't get it…"_**)**

**(**They each wanted something to call _theirs_.**)**

**(**"Wait, Neji, you were at my house last night and I didn't know it?"  
"…Maybe…"  
"Hide yo kids, hide yo wife, hide yo husband…"**)**

**don't ask why.**


	3. 3at this with ketchup, society

**the environots**;

When Neji's phone rang, Lee automatically thought it was a bomb. Neji decided that he should have expected this, but nonetheless it intrigued him at the same time as it annoyed him.

They had been resting on the hood of the car, Neji relaxing while Lee was sleeping, when the phone let out three long, loud beeps.

Lee's automatic reaction was to wake up and promptly fall off of the hood of the car. While Neji fished in his pockets for the phone, he watched Lee, who scrambled up frantically, and then fell yet again into the dirt.

Shaking his head piteously Neji answered: "Hello?"

"What _was _that?" Lee cried in the background, grasping the car and crawling towards Neji, eyes huge. Neji ignored him.

"_Hey, Neji," _Tenten said from the phone. _"I found out where you are. You're not in Kentucky, you're in Missouri."_

"Go figure," Neji said blandly.

"Neji, did you _hear _that?" Lee demanded timidly.

"_You're in Southern Missouri though, Lee missed his mark by a long shot. You'll just have to drive North a little bit. Don't you have a map on you?"_

Neji shrugged. "I usually don't require maps."

"Is something gonna blow up? Has something been activated?"

"_Well, I have the directions right here on MapQuest. Did you want me to send them to your email account, then?"_

"Sure, that'll be helpful."

"Neji, I'm serious, we have to get out of here. Neji, we have to leave, like, _now_."

"_Okay, I just sent it. Just check your inbox and call me if you have any more—"_

"—Neji, do you _want _to explode?"

"_Okay, I can hear Lee in the background, what the hell is he going on about?"_

Neji closed his eyes. This was, by far, the greatest test to his patience he'd yet to endure. "Thank you Tenten. That's all we'll be needing from you."

"…_Are you sure you guys are—?"_

Tenten's question, Neji decided, would never be finished nor answered, as he simply snapped the phone shut, turned to Lee, and held it up.

Lee froze, seeing the expectant look in Neji's eyes. He gazed at the phone. Contemplated it. Puckered his lips in thought.

"Oh."

**.**

**.**

**.**

The first thing Tenten did when she slipped back into her dorm room was check on Temari. She was still sleeping. Tenten smiled at the form of her, resting carelessly away on her pillow, and silently felt her way through the dark to her own bed, and clambered onto it.

Not bothering to tuck herself in properly, she nestled into the soft sheets and fluffy comforter, closing her eyes and curling around the phone that was still clasped tightly in her hand. Feeling her body finally being to relax, she let loose her tension and immediately started to drift away into the pleasantries of a…vibration…

Her eyes snapped open and she jumped, hissing in shock at the feeling of her cell shaking madly in her hand, letting out a low humming sound with indignation. She stared at the name on the screen, covering the light with her palm so as not to wake Temari, and felt her eyes narrow into tiny slits.

"You dick, Neji…"

Her voice was terrifying. Her face, worse.

Snatching herself out of bed and slinking out of the room, she closed the door, answered the phone, and snapped under her breath furiously, "Neji Hyuuga, I am going to chop off whatever it is you have for genitals and feed it to a—"

"_Oh for heaven's sake, don't be so premature_," was Neji's response over the line. _"I know you get cranky when you're woken up, but that's no reason to—"_

"Shut your pie hole, or I'm _going_ to hang up on you!"

"_You have no reason to be so—Lee, what __**are **__you doing?"_

There was a strange panting sound, and Tenten paused to listen. Neji spoke again: _"Lee, don't hyperventilate, we'll get there in time. I have Tenten on the phone no—"_

"_**TENTEN?**__"_

"…_Ow…"_

Tenten glowered. "Neji, what's going on? Why does Lee need a paper bag?"

Neji sighed. _"Before I tell you, I want us to agree on something."_

"…What…?" she asked warily.

"_I want you to promise me something."_

"Promise you _what_?"

"_And it's important, so I want to make sure you don't interrupt me."_

"Would you just spit it out already?"

"_Alright, number one—"_

"Oh, god…"

"_Tenten,I said no interrupting me—"_

"Would you just give the phone to Lee?"

"_Fine, I have no patience for your obscene idiocy anyways. Lee, here."_

"_**TEN – **__huff – __**TEN **__– huff –"_

"…Lee…?" Tenten had never felt so confused. "Why don't you stop panicking for a second and tell me what's going on…?"

She heard him gulping down air and swallowing it like water. Then, through his faint wheezing, she configured a sentence:

"_Tenten…We…We tried to start the car to get to Indiana, but it…it…"_

"It _what_?"

"_I-It wouldn't start…"_

Tenten felt a sinking feeling in her gut. "This is a joke, right?" she whispered.

She heard Lee's unapproved snort as he mumbled,_ "Again, I don't see how this is very funny, Tenten."_

"You know what_ would_ be funny, Lee? Your head on a stake."

"…_I don't get it."_

Tenten bit down on her tongue so hard, she bled. Cursing at the pain, she stuck her tongue out of her mouth, holding the phone away from her, not wanting to hear Lee's infuriating pants any longer. She automatically thought back to that morning. She'd read her horoscope, and it had told her that she was supposed to control her temper that day, and if she did, everything would turn out right.

Never a skeptic for superstition, Tenten took a deep breath in, and let it out very slowly. She went to her happy place: Sitting with her roommate by the pond just south of campus, staring out at the stars and counting the number of fish that swam by…

She closed her eyes, and opened them, now a much calmer person. Holding the phone to her ear she said slowly, "Fine. I'll be right there. I have the directions to the motel still, so I'll be able to drive you."

"…_U…Um…"_

"…What?" Tenten asked uncertainly.

"_Wait, uh…Actually…Um, maybe you should talk to Neji about this…"_

"Hmm?"

"…_So we're telling her, huh?" _Neji now spoke over the phone, addressing Lee, who in the background made a sound of solemn agreement. Neji sighed and murmured, _"Tenten, you still there?"_

"Yeah. What's wrong?"

"…_We're actually…not going to do a project for our Environmental Studies class…That was just an excuse, as it was the only class we have together…"_

"Huh…? Then where are you going…?"

Tenten could recognize the silent remorse on Neji's end, before he said, regretting it in his tone, _"We're going to spend the night at Redbrook University so we can take a series of exams…whichs will determine, and we're feeling fortunate about the results…if we get accepted there or not…"_

Tenten's eyes widened. What was _this_? Redbrook was one of the most prestigious universities there was! It was a place someone like her would only _dream _of entering…

And someplace that she knew Neji and Lee would have no trouble getting into…

Her head not wrapping around the subject entirely, Tenten mumbled, "…What…?" She shook her head. "But…Redbrook is…You guys are only sophomores right now…I thought we all agreed we wouldn't leave Maple until we'd graduated…"

"_That's why we didn't want to tell you, Tenten…" _Neji said slowly._ "We…made up our minds together…that we'd leave Maple…"_

"…without me…" Tenten finished for him softly.

A silence followed that. The guilty hiss of air on the other end. And the guilt even swallowed Tenten as well, as she realized how selfish that sentence was.

But it did nothing to cover up the pain she now felt. Neji murmured, _"We're really sorry, Tenten—"_

"—Just don't say anything," she muttered, interrupting him churlishly. She ran a hand through her hair, fingers snagging on a few tangles, and sighed.

"Call a towtruck. I'll be right there to pick you up and take you to Redbrook."

Neji paused, and began to say, _"Alright," _but couldn't finish as Tenten hung up on him.

She stared at the phone in her hand. Far from feeling the fire of her anger earlier, she felt numb, as though water had been poured on it. She felt betrayed, and by the two people that were closest to her.

Neji and Lee had always been _hers_. Her friends. Her boys. If she couldn't trust her boys, who _could _she trust?

Yes, it was normal for friends to lie to each other, somewhere subliminally Tenten knew that. She didn't expect it from them, though. That was why she chose them.

Maybe that was why she hated admitting they were her best friends.

Maybe something was wrong with her. Maybe she wasn't supposed to have any friends at all.

Standing there in the suit outside her dorm room, Tenten let the icy coldness of reality sink into her skin, and she had never before felt so alone.

**coming soon**;

**(**He just wanted to _be_ _somebody_. He couldn't see anything wrong with that.**)**

**(**"Wait, Neji, you were at my house last night and I didn't know it?"  
"…Maybe…"  
"Hide yo kids, hide yo wife, hide yo husband…"**)**

**(**They each wanted something to call _theirs_.**)**

**(**"I hope you get butt-raped at that motel."  
"Fine, I hope you crash your car on the way home."  
"I hope you break your ankle on the way to your exam."  
"I hope the next brownie you eat tastes awful."  
"…Oh, no, nuh-uh! Take that back! Fuck you! Fuck you, dude!"**)**

**liar, liar, pants on fire.**


	4. 4 once i don't want to be lonely

**the environots**;

It was rare when Neji was in a small vicinity with Tenten and Lee and he could only hear very few noises besides a crushing silence.

There he sat, in the passenger seat of Tenten's car. The tow truck had come and taken away their earlier vehicle, and she'd arrived half an hour later, ready to take them to Redbrook, the directions on the GPS and her gas tank filled.

The sun was rising on the horizon. Neji stared out the window at a flock of birds sailing gently through the sky, the streaks of peach and mint blue glowing behind them. The sound of the car humming and Lee every so often tapping the seatbelt in the seats behind him were the only things he heard.

He looked to his left. Tenten had a stoic expression on. Concentrating on driving, she did not say a word to Lee or Neji. This wasn't normal. Usually she'd be bringing up useless topics of conversation that Neji could care less about and Lee cared too much about. Of course, they'd never been in this situation before. Never quite something like it.

Neji felt a twang at his chest and whipped around again to stare out the window, distracted himself as much as possible with the scenery flowing endlessly by. He felt guilty. And oh, he hated it. He'd gone to precautions, even pre-precautions to tell Tenten, it wasn't his fault that every time something got in his way. He'd created a foolproof plan even, to keep her at bay, to slowly ease the truth into her as gently as possible.

It wasn't _supposed_ to happen like this…

But it did. There wasn't any getting away from it now.

He forced the squeamish feelings out of his gut. No. There was no reason to be angry with himself. There was no reason for _Tenten _to be angry, either. She was being unreasonable. He just wanted to be as successful as his potential told him he could be, as his father had wanted. He couldn't get any of that at Maple, he couldn't stay on the same road he was going.

He could never be like everyone else, and he didn't want to. But he didn't want to be a nobody either. He just wanted to _be somebody_. He couldn't see anything wrong with that.

Neji was fortunate that Lee chose that moment of realization to speak; he didn't like the silence, forcing him to think about these things.

"Are we almost there?"

Neji looked up at the road. "Yes."

"Really?"

"No."

"When will we get there?"

"I don't know."

"How much longer?"

"We will die in this car, that's how much longer."

"Stop lying, Neji. Will we get there soon?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because the more you talk, Lee, the more chemicals come out of your mouth, and they're so heavy, they're weighing Tenten's car down and making it harder for her to drive, so we move slower. Like cement."

"That's just another lie, Neji! Come on, how much longer?"

"It's only going to get longer the more you talk. I suggest you stop talking 'till we reach our destination so the chemicals don't pile up even more."

"Stop lying, be serious!"

"Okay, then: Seriously, _shut up_."

"But I can't _do _that!"

"Yes you can, you just don't _want _to."

"Neji, Lee, _both of you_ shut up," Tenten snapped. Neji blinked in surprise. This was one of the first things she'd said since they'd gotten into the car with her. "It'll be another forty-five minutes."

"…Alright…" Neji watched her cautiously. "Thank you…"

Tenten said nothing. He sighed. "Tenten, it would be easier if you'd just say that you're angry with us…"

Tenten scowled. "Wow, I thought that would go without saying."

"We can explain…"

"Really?" Tenten pulled her bangs out of her eyes, agitated. "Then explain why you purposefully _lied_ to me!" She sighed, drawing in her patience visibly. "You could have at least told me before-hand instead of as a last resort," she grumbled.

"Well I tried telling you," Neji admitted, rolling his shoulders back to calm his nerves; he knew it was only a matter of time before she exploded.

"Oh you did, huh?"

"Actually, yes," Lee said, speaking for Neji reluctantly. "He tried to call you on Wednesday but you weren't answering, so he went to your dorm room, but you weren't there. We knew you weren't in class, so we looked for you everywhere around campus but couldn't find you."

"I was hanging out with my roommate all Wednesday, and all yesterday too," Tenten said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh…" Neji said, nodding to himself. "That's why you weren't in your house last night."

"…What?"

Neji faced her, and suddenly realized what he'd said. "Uh…"

"No, wait, what are you talking about?" Tenten asked, raising an eyebrow and trying to keep looking straight ahead at the road.

"Well Neji went to your house last night to see if you were there, because he figured you might be paying your parents a visit. Your parents weren't there, so he walked in, but you weren't there either," Lee explained immediately, barely pausing.

Neji blinked, the words registering, then fought the urge to slap Lee upside the head, settling for giving him a glare over his shoulder.

Tenten, meanwhile, seemed to be tossing the words about in her head, an appalled expression on her face. "Wait, Neji, you were at my house last night and I didn't know it?"

"…Maybe…"

"Hide yo kids, hide yo wife, hide yo husband…"

Neji and Tenten gave Lee a look. He coughed. "Sorry."

"I'm not a rapist, Lee."

"Yeah Lee, Neji's not a rapist. He's a major _creeper_, but he's not a rapist."

"Oh come on, how am I a creeper?"

"You come into to my house last night without me knowing…?"

"I thought you were there!"

"That's even creepier!"

"How much _longer_?" Lee interrupted their quarrel, scrambling to pound the back of Neji's seat.

"Lee, only two minutes have passed, we still have forty-three minutes."

"Aaaa_aaahhhhhggghhh_," Lee groaned dramatically, swooping over in the back seats to clutch at the windows. "I can't _wait _that long!"

"I'm sure you can," Tenten disagreed as calmly as she could, her fingers drumming on the steering wheel with impatience.

"But I _caaaaan't_!"

"You're not going to die just from—"

"_Yeees_, I _aaaam_, I'm so _booored_!"

"For goodness' sake, you expect to take exams like this?"

Lee stopped moaning immediately at that. He slowly sat up, his large eyes blinking rapidly. Neji watched him from over his shoulder, saw the sad, guilty expression on his face as he placed his hands in his lap and stared down at them.

It was again completely silent for about a minute or two before Lee mumbled softly, "Sorry."

Tenten did not say anything, didn't even look at him. Neji glanced at her, frowning. "What, you're not going to accept his apology?" he asked condescendingly.

Tenten gave him a glare. "Why should I? He was being annoying, I told him so, he's sorry. Not a big deal."

"He apologized, you're supposed to at least let him know it's alright."

"Oh, I'm _supposed _to?"

"_Yes_, so he can _feel _better."

"Why are you standing up for him?"

"Because you're leaving him thinking it isn't alright!"

"What if it _isn't_ alright?"

"Then tell him how to _make it_ alright!"

"Well I wouldn't even _know_, Neji, since I'm obviously not a motherfucking _genius_ like _you two_!"

Neji thinned his lips, not responding to that. He faced forwards again with a sigh, seeing Lee from the rearview mirror staring between them nervously. The atmosphere was crushing. The silence pressed on again, and this time no one dared break it.

**.**

**.**

**.**

They weren't geniuses.

Tenten ground her teeth together ferociously as she drove on. The silence had been swirling around in the car ever since she and Neji's outburst, and lasted the entire trip to the campus. Now they were in Redbrook, and Tenten was driving around, following the signs to try to find the building Neji and Lee were to head to where they would sign in, then receive the key and directions for their motel where they'd be spending the night.

Oh, because they were _such _geniuses, and they _totally deserved_ this special treatment.

Hah. As if. They were _idiots_.

She pouted furiously as she turned a corner and found herself stuck behind an enormous SUV that was going particularly slow. Idiots, idiots, _idiots_. Not geniuses. No way. Geniuses didn't wake their best friends up in the middle of the night to ask for help when they were lost, then lie to them, then reveal at the last minute that they'd betrayed them, then asked for a ride and not even _thank them_!

No, _idiots_ did _that_!

"There it is, the building's right there…" one of the idiots was saying now. Tenten wasn't sure which one it was, as she was too busy seething to care. She pulled over to the side of the small road under a patch of trees and parked the car.

"Okay. Get out," she ordered. She didn't bother looking at the idiots, but she was sure they could hear the fury in her tone.

"Tenten—"

"—I said get out," she repeated, her voice raising. "_Now_, hurry up so I can go. Tim Horton's opens in five minutes and I wanna get there before the traffic does."

She expected them to be frightened by her voice, but she heard a pause and forced herself to turn around and look at them. They were watching her, seeming confused.

Lee spoke first: "You're not…" he started uncertainly, "I mean, I thought you were going to take us to the motel…It's half a mile away…"

Tenten stared at Lee. Ah. The motel, she'd completely forgotten about that. Half a mile away would be a pain in the ass the walk to, especially this early. Rush hour would be starting by the time they'd started walking, and they'd have to weave in and out of traffic, filled with impatient, angry drivers…

Good.

Tenten gave them each a deadly smirk and said, "No."

"Wh…What?"

"Tenten, I think you're being a little—"

"I am giving you two five seconds to _get the hell out of my goddamn car_," Tenten yelled, making Lee jump and Neji flinch. "I have _had it_!" She twisted around to face them directly. This felt good. Finally letting it out. She wanted, no, _needed_ to do this. Idiots deserved this. Idiots had to hear this. "You two _lied _to me," she snapped. "You _betrayed_ me, you _used_ me, and now you want _another_ favor from me? _No way_! You can't manipulate me like that." She pounded a fist into the seat. "I'm not stupid. I'm not an _idiot_. I'm _smart_, god damn it!"

When she said that, an angry tear could be felt forming in her eye. She was sure the boys couldn't see it, but it was there.

"I _am _smart," she repeated, glowering at them and allowing the fury to flow through her. "I'm not an idiot…So don't you _dare _insinuate _one more time_ that I'm not as _good _as you."

Lee looked absolutely terrified, his hands grasping his mouth, shaking his head wildly. But Neji was staring at her with a scowl. "You're just _ridiculous_," he said smoothly. Tenten opened her mouth to yell at him, but he said quickly, "No, you don't know what you're talking about! We're not insinuating that you're not as good as us! We just want—"

"How does it matter what you _want _right now?"

"How does it _not_?" Neji retorted, getting a little upset himself.

"Well you don't seem care what _I_ want! I wanted you to be _honest _with me! You know I hate being left alone, and even so you purposefully went behind my back and _lied_!"

"Now you're being selfish! If you don't care what _we_ want, why should we care what _you_ want?"

"I _do _care what you want, we're supposed to be _friends_!"

"Well friends _lie_ to each other, Tenten! These things happen, and you're making a huge deal out of them! You always do!"

"At least I'm a better friend than you! I did all of this in the middle of the night just for _you guys_, and I really doubt you're going to give me _anything _in return!"

"Oh, and there you go being a hypocrite! You just told _us _not to compare you to ourselves, and you _just _compared yourself to us!"

"Neji, we're late…"

Tenten and Neji both twitched at Lee's voice and spun around. Lee pointed to his watch. His eyes were glassy with tears, and he was chewing on his lip anxiously. Tenten felt a small twang of guilt, seeing him all scared like that, and all because she was fighting with Neji like this…

But she turned around and glared at the steering wheel. She was still mad at them. She didn't even want to look at them.

"Go on," she grumbled. "Get out of my sight."

She could feel Lee and Neji's stares. She forced herself not to meet them.

Finally, after a long, deliberating pause, she heard Neji sigh, and the both of them opened their doors.

Still wanting to get in a last word, Tenten turned to face Neji before he could close his door, calling, "I hope you get butt-raped at that motel."

"Fine, I hope you crash your car on the way home."

"I hope you break your ankle on the way to your exam."

"I hope the next brownie you eat tastes awful."

"…Oh, no, nuh-uh! Take that back! Fuck you! Fuck you, dude!" But Neji slammed the door, and walked away towards the building, pulling Lee by the arm with him.

Tenten leaned into her knees and gave a short, furious scream into her lap. She stayed there, bent over and huffing. She stared at the materials in her jeans for a couple seconds, feeling her heart pounding with adrenaline after all that yelling.

Then the tear fell from her eye at last, and she sat up and wiped it away.

"I'm smart too…"

**coming soon**;

**(**"It's like, what I _want_ versus what I _need_, and I'd rather have what I _want_."  
"But Neji, that's _stupid_!"  
"Then maybe I'm not smart!"  
"…What…?"  
"…Wait…No, I'm smart…Okay, I was trying to say something meaningful, I swear…"  
"Is this another joke I don't get…?"**)**

**(**They each wanted something to call _theirs_.**)**

**(**"Oh, I don't know; why is the sky blue?"  
"Oh! I know, I know! I read about this one!"  
"…Why do we even ask that question?"  
"Oh, oh, oh! I know that one too!"  
"Dear Lord…"**)**

**(**There it was on their phones, and in their hearts, just for them. A simple message that they didn't even believe in; Good luck.**)**

**be somebody.**


	5. 5mile through this calamity

**the environots**;

"Are you ready?"

Lee had been asked that question so many times. Almost one hundred percent of the time, the answer was "Yes". He didn't always mean it. Like now. But every time, he said "Yes", because that was what was to be expected of him.

He always did what people expected of him.

So of course he wasn't ready. He was terrified. He was heartbroken. He couldn't stop thinking about Tenten, and he couldn't stop mentally beating himself. He was as far from ready as he could get.

But he looked the professor in the eye and said, "Yes", all the same. Because the professor was waiting for that word.

"Yes." Lee turned to his side upon hearing the repeated word from Neji. Lee could tell his friend wasn't ready either. His eyebrow was cocked almost permanently, and every so often he would clench his fists like he was holding back the urge to yell.

But still he stared at the professor with a stony expression, and the elderly scholar smiled right back at them almost dreamily from behind his thick glasses. Lee felt uncertain about this professor. He was tall and thin, and his hair was thinning. He didn't look healthy, in fact he looked down-right ill, with a pale and sickly glow to his drawn and wrinkled skin that could only come from spending too much time inside.

Studying. Reading. Filling out papers and doing business.

As Lee stood there, facing him, watching as he held out a little silver box with a lock on it quite patiently, he had to wonder, as he fished in his pockets, if he would someday look like him.

And if he really wanted that.

He removed his cell phone from his pocket, Neji doing the same, and the professor opened his chapped lips to speak in a low, throaty voice: "You don't have to worry about anyone stealing them, we'll keep this box locked 'till you return with your ID's to retrieve your phones after the test is over. Again, this is simply a precaution to assure you don't cheat on your test."

Neji and Lee nodded distractedly, understanding, and checked their phones once again to make sure they were off.

But as Neji nodded in assurance, Lee was beginning to feel his muscles stiffen.

His phone was small and green. And on the end of it was hung a little charm. It was a tiny charm, in the shape of a three-leaf-clover. Almost inconspicuous, and to those who saw it nothing to even regard.

But upon seeing it, Lee felt his heart burst.

"Neji…" Lee's lips moved dumbly as if he was dreaming.

Neji blinked, glancing to the side at Lee. He was moving to put his phone into the box, but Lee said again, clearer this time, "Neji…Look, Neji…"

He held his phone up and clutched the charm, pulling it into view for Neji to see.

And Neji's hand, about to place the phone into the box, froze.

Lee felt nostalgia clouding his heart, bringing with it a twang of pain as he fondly fingered the charm like it was a lost ring. He'd almost forgotten it was there. He'd had it for five years, since Tenten had given it to him and Neji as a gift.

It was nothing, really. It was just a token of Tenten's friendship, just something that she said would bring them good fortune in their futures, after they'd promised so long beforehand that they'd stay together forever. She told them it was to make them think of her when they saw that charm.

So she would always be with them, and they would never forget her, and none of them would ever be alone.

Lee and Neji had laughed at that. Neither of them believed in luck, they'd reminded her, they weren't as superstitious as she was. But they accepted the gift anyways. Neither of them took the charm off their phones, ever. Even if they insisted it mean nothing, really.

Lee cursed himself now for ever thinking such a thing. It was _something_. There it was on their phones, and in their hearts, just for them. A simple message that they didn't even believe in;

Good luck.

"I'm out."

Lee almost dropped his phone.

His head moved, slowly and jerkily like with rusted gears, so he could gaze at Neji, who was pulling his hand back away from the box.

Lee felt his mouth drop open. "Wh…What?"

"I'm out," Neji repeated, lips forming the words perfectly. Lee could do nothing but gaze, aghast and gaping, back at him, and Neji rolled his eyes. "Oh don't give me that look," he muttered. "I'm _out_. I'm not taking the test, I'm not going to Redbrook, and I'm not letting Tenten get Tim Horton's without buying me a bagel or something because I'm starving."

"N…Neji, wait…!" Lee found his hands were literally shaking as he watched Neji turn around and walk out of the little glass receptionist's office they were in. He glanced over his shoulder at the thin man, who was blinking at him, confused and obviously quite flabbergasted. "I…I'm so sorry, I'll be right back with him!" Lee cried, allowing the man to give him one nod before he turned and dashed out of the office after Neji.

"Neji!" he yelped, stumbling after him down the long cement path from the office. Neji was walking swiftly ahead of him and didn't even spare him a look over his shoulder. Lee groaned aloud and jogged over 'till he was in front of the man, then skidded to a halt and grabbed his arm. "What are you doing? Neji, this is your future!"

"No it's not!" Neji snapped. Lee blinked and allowed his friend to shake his hand roughly from his arm. "It stinks here, it stinks like old socks!"

"You're being childish!" Lee insisted, eyes wide and wild. "_You're_ the one who told me to be more serious about this! This is our chance, Neji! This is what we've dreamed of!"

"It's not," Neji disagreed, shaking his head rapidly while his fingers twitched with impatience. "This is _not_ what we had planned all those years ago! This is not what Tenten had in mind!"

"But you said—"

"—_I know_ what I said!" Neji yelled. Lee winced at the volume; he rarely saw Neji so out of control like his, but he was clenching his jaw in a way he'd never seen before. "I know, Lee," he growled, less loud but just as furious. "But I was wrong. This isn't what I dreamed of. This isn't what _you_ dreamed of. This is just what everyone expects from us, and that's it."

"I don't understand, Neji," Lee pleaded, eyes sparkling. "What do you mean?"

"I dunno, Lee," Neji said, sighing and putting a hand to his forehead. "It's like, what I _want_ versus what I _need_, and I'd rather have what I _want_."

"But Neji, that's _stupid_!"

"Then maybe I'm not smart!"

"…What…?"

"…Wait…No, I'm smart…Okay, I was trying to say something meaningful, I swear…"

"Is this another joke I don't get…?"

"Would you just bear with me Lee?" Neji flung his hand in the air. "Listen. I get it, okay? You're scared, you're worried, and hell, I am too. But we have to make a decision, Lee, right here and right now."

Lee grimaced, wringing his hands pathetically. "I'm not ready! I have to pee, I can't do this!"

"I will make you piss yourself right here if you don't do this with me."

"No, Neji, I'm serious, I really have to go!"

"Lee, I can tell you with all honesty that I don't give a _damn_ about your bladder, now _tell me_." Lee whimpered, heart hammering, and gazed on as Neji eyed him dangerously and said, voice dark:

"What are we doing with are lives?"

**.**

**.**

**.**

The charm glittered in the light from the sun that flooded in through Tenten's open car window. She twisted it around on its cord one more time, waiting for it to snap.

But it didn't.

Tenten growled furiously under her breath, throwing her phone into the passenger seat next to her. She watched as it bounced away, landing to give her a perfect view of the unharmed charm hanging off of it that reflected the sunlight almost mockingly into her eyes.

She turned away and took another angry bite of her bagel, mumbling through a full mouth, "Stupid fucking charm won't break."

She sat in her car, parked in a lot outside of Tim Horton's, and feasted on her breakfast of a bacon cheese bagel and piping hot coffee balanced on her dashboard. The air that flooded in through her open window was refreshing and cool, mixed with the early autumn smell of leaves, and the crisp morning pinch of cold.

She took a deep breath, swallowing her bagel, and allowed the fresh air to relax her. The adrenaline was settling now, she could no longer hear the furious rush of blood pumping in her ears.

"Such idiots," Tenten muttered to herself. The silence of the half-empty lot around her pressed on her ears as she reached forward and enjoyed the feeling of the coffee mug warming her hands. "I bet they'll fail. Serves them right."

She took a sip of her coffee, and immediately regretted it.

Her eyes watered as she slammed the mug back down on her dashboard and swallowed the hot liquid as quickly as she could. The cut on her tongue was still there after she'd bit it while talking to Lee and Neji over the phone, and the coffee had just burned it again.

Tasting blood, and spluttering as the steaming beverage made its way sloppily down her throat, she swore at her steering wheel with every dirty word she knew, cursing Neji and Lee to the ends of the earth. Taking deep breaths and holding her tongue out in the open air she fisted a hand and punched the fabric of the seat next to her three times, quite viciously.

"God _damn it_!" she hissed, trying not to be too loud as an elderly couple had parked their minivan a couple spots to the right of her. "God fucking _damn it_!" She wiped the tears of pain from her eyes and glowered, touching her tongue gingerly before carefully slipping it back into her mouth. "It's all their fault," she grumbled, crossing her arms and pouting to herself. "Those stupid idiots. If they hadn't called me, I never would have bit my tongue. If they weren't so _stupid_ I wouldn't be in pain, it's all because of _them_."

The adrenaline was back. Tenten knew she should be mature, and keep it at bay, and take it out some other way, but she just couldn't. She was so angry. She wanted to hurt something. She grabbed her cell phone, fingers fumbling, and grasped the charm again resentfully. Enraged, she began to gnaw on the cord connecting the charm to the phone, stretching it between her teeth 'till finally she heard the reassuring sound of the snap, and all the tension came loose.

And immediately the anger was gone, to be replaced with something else.

Tenten paused, acknowledging this strange new feeling as she slowly dropped the charm and the phone into her lap. She wiped her lips, taking note of the way she moved curiously; it was like she was in a dream. She felt hollow, all of a sudden. Like she was alive and conscious, but not really _there_.

She gazed at the charm in her lap. Half the cord was still tied onto her phone, the other half hanging limply off the end of the three-leaf-clover. She took the time to remember why she'd broken off the fourth leaf of her charm, and the other two's as well; she wanted it to be just them. Only them.

Just them forever.

But wasn't that a lie?

She closed her eyes. Forced herself to think of better places, better times. Shopping with her roommate Temari, or sitting with her by the lake and watching the sunset. No, none of these had anything to do with Lee and Neji.

Almost unwillingly, almost unconsciously, and with an almost unbearable wash of emotion, she felt herself smile.

She opened her eyes, closed her fist around the charm, and then flung it out the window of the car. All the while, and even after she did the deed and faced forwards again to try one more sip of her coffee, she felt happy.

The hollow feeling was floating away, and finally, in her chest, was settling a contentedness she could not place, but did not mind.

"I love you guys," she whispered to herself sweetly, breathing into the rim of the coffee cup beneath her lips. "Neji and Lee. My boys. My idiots." She laughed to herself. "I really hate you both. But sometimes, I really love you guys."

And then, it happened.

It happened, and her heart almost burst.

It happened, and she wanted to cry tears of joy, but kept them at bay, because she didn't cry.

Not in front of them, no, she didn't cry.

They didn't need to see it.

"Hey, Tenten…"

She twisted around, stiffening in shock, to see Neji climbing into the passenger seat. She let her mouth fall open, stunned, as Lee crawled into the back seats soon afterwards.

Her lips moved wordlessly as she stared at them, while they slammed the car doors shut and faced her, both of them visually uneasy, shifting every so often being uncomfortable under her gaze. Finally she choked out, "Wh…What the Hell…?"

Neji licked his lips slowly. "Can you take us home?" he asked awkwardly.

Tenten closed her fist around her phone, fingering the chewed-off cord of the charm. "Wh…why?" was all she could stutter.

Neji glowered at her, obviously impatient. "Oh, I don't know; why is the sky blue?"

"Oh! I know, I know! I read about this one!"

"…Why do we even ask that question?"

"Oh, oh, oh! I know that one too!"

"Dear Lord…" Neji reached over to smack Lee on the arm, effectively shutting him up. "Lee, would you be quiet for one second?"

"Guys, seriously," Tenten gasped, shaking her head with a confused laugh while they blinked at her almost innocently. "What's going on, what are you doing…?"

"We're not going to Redbrook," Neji said loudly, as if it should have been obvious. "We're staying at Maple."

"What?" Tenten gasped. She looked between them, waiting for some sort of indication that Neji was wrong, or this was a joke, or that she just didn't hear them correctly. But their eyes were set in stone. Their faces were completely still.

Tenten's heart fluttered and rose, but she swallowed hard and sighed. "Guys…Look, I know I got mad at you, but it's not that big of a deal…You shouldn't stay at Maple just because of me, I'm not—"

"We're not staying for you." Tenten and Neji both glanced at Lee. He stared back at them with wide eyes. "We're staying for _us_. For _all _of us. For _our _friendship."

Tenten watched Lee, feeling her heart pound. "Lee…Friendship isn't what we think it is…" she said slowly. "That was years ago, this is…"

"This is different." Lee frowned. "Yeah. I know. And I know about friendship. It's true that friends lie to each other, and go behind each other's backs, and everyone knows that all friendships, eventually, fall apart, because everyone moves on, and meets new people, and gets new jobs." Lee fisted a hand and said sternly, "But I don't want that to be us."

Tenten felt tears fill her eyes. She told herself she wouldn't, but they were there. Like the charm was there, and the anger was there, and the silence was there, all of it always…

Lee went on, fisting the air while he did so. "I don't want to be like everyone else. I've never been _able_ to be like everyone else. _None of us_ have." He glanced at Neji and waved a hand at him; Neji stared back, confused. "Neji, you're too _good _at everything so the world is just boring and sad in your mind, and it's hard for you," Lee said.

Neji did not say a word, just gazed back at him almost expectantly, and Lee turned to Tenten, pointing at her rudely and saying sharply, "And Tenten, you hate being left behind or alone, but you always are, and it's hard for you."

Lee thinned his lips. "And I'm…" He paused, and Tenten felt her chest grow tighter as he said, voice suddenly swimming with emotion, "Me, I'm dyslexic, so I never do anything _right_, and it's _hard _for me…" He shook his head, and Tenten felt one of her tears fall down her cheek against her whim. "But we've gotten this far, and we've always been saying to each other, since we were kids, that each of us just want to _be somebody_…"

Lee closed his eyes. "I always say the same thing, that I want to make something of myself. But I can't do it without you guys." He opened his eyes again, and they were fond, and happy. "It's too hard to be somebody when you're alone," he said softly. "So let's not be everyone else. Let's just always, always be _us_." He grinned a bit and shrugged. "We're our own, aren't we?"

It took a couple seconds for the words to settle in. Neji and Tenten stared at Lee, not moving, barely breathing. The only sounds that could be heard were the whistling of the wind outside, and the rustling of the leaves in the trees. The cool breeze embraced the three, and the smell of clovers and juniper drifted past them.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Tenten heaved a sigh.

"You guys suck," she muttered. Neji and Lee stared at her, confused, as she opened her car door, and walked out. She bent over the pavement and grabbed the charm off the ground, before climbing back into the car and slamming the door shut.

Neji let out a small, disapproving laugh as Tenten, pouting away, snatched her phone up and tied the charm back on, knotting the cord once more sloppily. "Really? You cut the charm off, Tenten?" he asked with a tiny, smug grin.

"Shut up," Tenten grumbled. "You're really testing your luck, I'm not afraid to kick you out of the car again."

"I don't believe in luck," Neji said, shaking his head, the grin staying on his face.

"So can you take us home?" Lee asked timidly. Tenten glanced at him through the rearview mirror, noticing the eager spark in his eyes, and she exhaled slowly, blowing her bangs from her face. "Yeah, whatever. I'm sure you have a class tomorrow that you don't want to miss."

"Environmental studies, ironically," Neji confirmed as Tenten started the car gloomily, and Lee clapped his hands together in the backseat. He eyed Tenten as she put the car into reverse and backed out of the lot, handing Neji the bagel and coffee to keep it steady. "Are you sure you're okay with us?"

Tenten shrugged. "Yeah. Whatever." She tilted her head to the side slyly. "Besides, you're not the only ones with a secret."

Neji raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You have one to share?"

She felt herself grin. "Well, you know my roommate, Temari, right?"

Neji puckered his lips thoughtfully. "Yeah. You guys are good friends."

She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel cheerfully as she said, "Yeah, well…" She smirked.

"We're more than friends."

...

Tenten, although infuriated and exhausted, enjoyed the astonished silence, and smiled away.

Because she knew it as well as they did. Sure, they each wanted to move on. They each wanted to be somebody.

They each wanted something to call _theirs_.

But even when they got all that, even when they'd each found someone else to make them happy, they'd still have each other. Because they were their own. They were something.

"Can I drive again?"

"Not in Hell, Lee."

They were worth dreaming about.

**the end**.

**1, 2, 3, smile for me**


End file.
